The Inner Game

Train the head
as well as
the legs.

Fitness gets you to the start line. Your head decides how the race feels, and very often how it goes.

The name comes from Timothy Gallwey's The Inner Game of Tennis: every match has two games, the one against your opponent and the one in your own head. Running is the same. This page is where I collect what helps me, and the runners I coach, play the inner one better.

Oscar running alone on a quiet path by the Rhine

How I coach the inner game

  • Listen to your feelings, not your watch

    On easy days, don't look at your pace. If it feels easy, it is easy. Learning to read your body is a skill you'll use on race day.

  • Keep the easy runs easy

    Most people run every run hard and finish every run dead. Easy days build the engine, so the hard days can actually be hard.

  • Enjoy the journey

    As hard as running is, we're doing this because we enjoy it. A plan you enjoy is a plan you stick to.

  • Let doubt ride along

    Every good race has a moment where you doubt yourself. You don't need to win that argument. Let the doubt be there and keep running your race.

  • One cue for race morning

    Pick one simple word or phrase for when it gets hard: "smooth", "tall and relaxed", "next kilometer". When everything gets loud, it gives your head one job.

Watch

Talks from runners and thinkers I keep coming back to.

Breaking the world record and the mindset behind it

The Runna Podcast

How he learned to sit with doubt instead of fighting it. My favorite runner on the mental side of racing.

Inside the mind of an ultra runner

Suunto

She treats the "pain cave" as a place to look forward to. Probably the most joyful way to think about hard running.

How to achieve your most ambitious goals

Dr Rangan Chatterjee

Self-discipline, simplicity and "no human is limited", from the calmest runner there is.

The surprising science of true toughness

Rich Roll Podcast

Toughness isn't gritting your teeth. It's noticing the discomfort and still making good decisions. Very useful for racing.

How to build immense inner strength

Huberman Lab

The extreme end of the scale, and not how I'd run an easy day. But worth hearing for the moments a race gets really hard.

Listen

Read

  • The Inner Game of Tennis · W. Timothy GallweyWhere the idea of the inner game comes from. Swap tennis for running and it all still works.
  • Do Hard Things · Steve MagnessA kinder, smarter idea of toughness.
  • Endure · Alex HutchinsonThe science of where our limits really are, and how much of them is in the head.
  • How Bad Do You Want It? · Matt FitzgeraldRace stories that show how much the mind decides.

Want help with
both games?

Train with me